1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic transmission controller which is capable of making a judgment emphasizing acceleration using two criteria judged at different times.
2. Related Art Statement
One known controller monitors the driving habits of a driver for a predetermined time to judge the type of the driver and to change the shift timing, initially set to a standard, to the timing intended by the driver based on that judgment.
However, with such a system it is necessary to monitor the driving habits of the driver for a relatively long time, e.g., about 30 seconds, to judge the type of the driver. That is, when a driver who stresses acceleration temporarily experiences a control scheme tailored to a driver who stresses fuel consumption, for example, the driver feels a sense of incompatibility because the driver has been judged to stress fuel consumption even though the driver actually stresses acceleration.
Further, such a system is unable to accommodate a temporary emphasis on acceleration, such as in passing, due to the driver type being judged over a relatively longer time. That is, when a driver who has been judged to be the type who normally stresses fuel consumption passes a car, there arises the problem that the driver is unable to make the intended acceleration because the shift timing is selectively changed toward the low-speed side based on determination of driver type through the monitoring of the driver for a relatively long time and the up-shift is made sooner, without sufficient acceleration.
Accordingly, the present invention has as its object provision of an automatic transmission controller which is capable of adequately accommodating a temporary emphasis on acceleration, such as in passing, even when the control shift timing is in accordance with a determination of driver type.
According to a first aspect, the present invention provides an automatic transmission controller capable of changing shift timing of a transmission in accordance with acceleration inclination of a driver. The transmission controller includes driver type judging means for judging the overall inclination of a driver in acceleration as one of a plurality of driver types by monitoring the driving behavior for a predetermined time, e.g., around 30 seconds; temporary acceleration inclination judging means for judging inclination of the driver in temporary acceleration by monitoring the driving behavior for a time shorter than the predetermined time; and shift control means for controlling and changing the shift timing based on the driver type judged by the driver type judging means and the temporary acceleration inclination judged by the temporary acceleration inclination judging means. Thus, it becomes possible to control the shift timing in a highly advanced manner taking into consideration both the overall inclination in acceleration and the inclination in temporary acceleration for an individual.
The terminology xe2x80x9cacceleration inclinationxe2x80x9d as used herein means behavior of a given driver in accelerating, as monitored over some period of time. It can also be characterized as a behavior pattern, habit or tendency.
According to a second aspect of the invention, the temporary acceleration inclination judging means judges whether or not the driver intends a temporary acceleration by judging whether or not the accelerator has been quickly applied. Thus, it becomes easier to detect the true inclination of the driver in acceleration and the possibility of erroneous detection is reduced.
According to a third aspect of the invention, the temporary acceleration inclination judging means in accordance with the second aspect, judges that the driver intends a temporary acceleration when the speed of accelerator depression exceeds a predetermined value.
According to a fourth aspect of the invention, the shift control means in accordance with the first aspect, changes the shift timing in a manner talking into account the driver type based on a temporary acceleration judged by the temporary acceleration inclination judging means. Thus, it is possible to appropriately adjust for inclination in temporary acceleration, such as in passing, in addition to the change in shift timing per driver type.
According to a fifth aspect of the invention, shift timing for each driver type is stored in as a shift map (see the economy mode map ECONOMY in FIG. 13, medium mode map MEDIUM in FIG. 14 and sport mode map SPORT in FIG. 15, for example) wherein accelerator opening is plotted against vehicle speed. The shift control means computes compensation of the accelerator opening (CP) based on the inclination of temporary acceleration, computes a shift map retrieving accelerator opening wherein the compensation is added to the actual accelerator opening (AC) of the driver and changes the shift timing in accordance with the shift map retrieved based on the computed shift map retrieving accelerator opening. Because the change of the shift timing to be made in connection with temporary acceleration may be made by using the same shift map as that prepared for each driver type, by computing the shift map retrieving accelerator opening, the control is simplified.
According to a sixth aspect-of the invention, the driver type judging means judges that the driver type is one of at least into two driver types, including a high acceleration inclination type (xe2x80x9csport typexe2x80x9d, for example) and a low acceleration inclination type (xe2x80x9ceconomy typexe2x80x9d, for example) and the shift control means limits the accelerator opening compensation (CP) as the driver type becomes closer to the higher acceleration inclination type. This makes it possible to prevent a situation wherein the shift timing (sport mode shift map SPORT) originally set at the high-speed side is shifted further to the high-speed side by a sudden accelerator operation and no upshift is made, when a driver of the driver type who stresses acceleration (the sport type driver) tries to pass. Thus, a smooth shift operation is provided. Alternatively, according to a seventh aspect of the invention, the driver type judging means raises the maximum value (*G) of the accelerator opening compensation as the driver type becomes closer to the low acceleration inclination type. Thus, it becomes possible to downshift and upshift according to the inclination in temporary acceleration and to allow the driver to accelerate appropriately as intended, because a large shift map retrieving accelerator opening is set even when the driver is the type who stresses economy of fuel consumption, for whom the shift timing has been shifted to the lower speed side, tries to pass.
The above and other advantages of the invention will become more apparent from a reading of the following description and the accompanying drawings.